In The Ballad of Knuckles McGraw (Orca 2010) by retired Surrey librarian Lois Peterson, an eight-year-old named Kevin, abandoned by his mother, who left him a good-bye note in his lunch bucket, takes comfort in his fantasy of becoming a cowboy to counteract the shock of living in a foster home with a pierced and tattooed teenager named Ice and a mute girl named Breezy. While he waits to be claimed by a father he barely remembers, Kevin imagines a better life as a tough cowboy named Knuckles McGraw who rides a horse named Burlington Northern.

Silver Rain (Orca, 2010) is the story of eleven-year-old Elsie, who is abandoned by her father during the Depression and lives in the garage behind her old house with her grandmother.

In Beyond Repair (Orca, 2011), young Cam decides to stalk the man who killed his father with a pickup truck, when the killer starts showing up at Cam's house, his work and his sister's school.

To help young people understand homelessness, Lois Peterson has written the non-fiction book Shelter: Homelessness in Our Community (Orca, 2021) for ages 9 – 12 or older. She provides information about the root causes of homelessness and its effects, and what is being done around the world to alleviate the problem. Peterson was the director of a homeless shelter and worked at a public library for 35 years. She shares some of her personal experiences from the homeless shelter and dispels myths about homelessness. The book also suggests ways that young people can take action in their own communities to help the homeless.

DATE OF BIRTH: August 16, 1952

PLACE OF BIRTH: Eastbourne, Sussex, England

ARRIVAL IN CANADA: 1971

EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING: Development Officer, Surrey Public Library, creative writing instructor and co-ordinator of the Surrey Creative Writing Diploma Program

AWARDS: Special Achievement Award, Surrey International Writers' Conference

BOOKS:

101 Writing Exercises to Get You Started & Keep You Going (LPwordsolutions, 1999; Metta Publications, 2006)

121 Writing Exercises to Get You Started & Keep You Going (Metta Publishing, 2005)

Meeting Miss 405 (Orca, 2008) $7.95 9781554690152

The Ballad of Knuckles McGraw (Orca, 2010) $7.95 9781554692033

Silver Rain (Orca, 2010) $9.95 9781554692804

Beyond Repair (Orca, 2011) $9.95 9781554698165

The Wrong Bus (Orca, 2012) $6.95 9781554698691

The Paper House (Orca, 2012) $7.95 9781459800519

Disconnect (Orca, 2012) $9.95 9781459801431 

Three Good Things (Orca, 2015) $9.95 9781459809857

Shelter: Homelessness in Our Community (Orca, 2021) $24.95 ‎ 9781459825536. Illustrated by Taryn Gee.

[BCBW 2022]